End 'backwards Robin Hood' effect in school funding formula

Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel

Makisha Odom, reading assistant, left, tutors Adriel Cotto, 6, a first grader at Eccleston Elementary Nov. 28, 2016, in an Orange County Public Schools 'Read2Succeed' program. Odom works for The Foundation for Orange County Public Schools.

Makisha Odom, reading assistant, left, tutors Adriel Cotto, 6, a first grader at Eccleston Elementary Nov. 28, 2016, in an Orange County Public Schools 'Read2Succeed' program. Odom works for The Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. (Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel)

During this year’s session of the Florida Legislature, public school districts took a couple of big hits to their budgets. Legislators ordered a cut in school tax rates to offset a rise in property values. And they forced districts to share their revenues earmarked for construction with charter schools. This double whammy will end up costing some districts tens of millions of dollars.

But for many districts in Florida, these two new policies were piled on top of an older financial hardship still lingering from a previous Legislature — a 13-year-old state funding formula that transfers local property-tax revenues from predominantly rural and suburban districts to urban districts. Since 2004, the formula known as the District Cost Differential has redistributed $1.7 billion among districts. Only 12 of Florida’s 67 districts actually end up ahead under the formula.

This year legislators included $100,000 in the state budget for a study of the formula. But Gov. Rick Scott vetoed that funding, contending the numbers behind the formula are reviewed on an ongoing basis. This outcome, left unchallenged, could prevent any serious reconsideration of the formula — and with it, any chance for changes.

Now two state senators, Republicans Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange and Travis Hutson of Elkton, are making another attempt to get a study done. Both represent counties that lose funding under the formula. The senators have asked their chamber’s president, Republican Joe Negron of Stuart, to authorize a study by legislative auditors. The districts that get a raw deal deserve at least that much.

It makes sense to direct supplemental funding to districts where the cost of living is higher. Those districts must pay higher salaries to attract and keep staff. Many of their teachers struggle to find affordable housing in the districts where they work.

But the higher-cost districts also tend to be among the state’s more affluent ones. And districts where the cost of living is lower are generally poorer, yet they are treated as cash cows. This results in what an outspoken critic of the formula, Chairwoman Melody Johnson of the Volusia County School Board, calls a “backwards Robin Hood” effect.

Because of the formula, Volusia County gets only 96 cents of every property-tax dollar it sends to Tallahassee. Those missing pennies add up. Volusia has lost more than $140 million since 2004, more than any other county. Some other counties in the region also have been hurt: Lake County has lost $57 million, Osceola County has lost $49 million, and Seminole County has lost $27 million.

Orange County, one of the dozen higher-cost counties, has gained $32 million under the formula since 2004. But its take is tiny next to the state’s biggest beneficiaries: Broward County, $489 million; Miami-Dade County, $454 million; and Palm Beach County, $418 million.

Johnson’s idea, worthy of further consideration by legislators, is to ensure that no district gets back less than it sends to Tallahassee. But to continue to provide supplemental dollars for Orange and other higher-cost districts, legislators would need to come up with some other funding source.

Some policy alternatives could be identified through a study of the formula. That’s why it’s unfortunate that Scott vetoed the one called for in the budget — and why Negron should heed the request from Hukill and Hutson.

Money to help high-cost school districts shouldn’t come at the expense of poorer ones. It’s past time for a revamp of the funding formula.